1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to research tools for collecting and organizing information obtained via an information retrieval system, such as information obtained via the World Wide Web.
2. Background
The increase in available content on the World Wide Web and innovations in Internet search technology have changed the way people access information. By searching the Web, a user can now perform a wide variety of research-based tasks such as planning a vacation, purchasing a car, or performing academic research. While finding sought-after information on the Web has generally become easier, collecting and organizing Web research and coming back to it remains challenging. This is due, in part, to the fact that Web-based research sessions may contain many queries, span multiple sessions, involve gathering large amounts of content, and change in focus over time as new topics of research emerge.
While performing research on the Web, users often need to painstakingly record the URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) associated with Web pages that they visit, the search terms that work best for them, and information from the destination pages they reach. Users may record such data in written form (e.g., by writing such data in a journal or on Post-it® notes) or in electronic form (e.g., by cutting and pasting such data into a word processing document), thereby creating impromptu research documents that may subsequently be used to explore their work in a particular area. Other conventional methods for collecting and organizing such data include saving bookmarks or tabs associated with Web pages, storing Web pages locally, or using basic scratchpad programs such as Google™ Notebook.
Each of these methods and tools require a user to proactively sort through, select and record information that is suitable for inclusion in a formal or informal Web research record. This can be a time-consuming, tedious and sometimes confusing task as the user navigates between different Web pages and browser windows. Performing such a task will inevitably slow down the research process and generally make it more unpleasant. In each case, the quality of the research record generated is directly related to the amount of effort expended by the user in meticulously recording URLs, search terms and Web content. Furthermore, depending upon the medium used for recording and the level of effort expended by the user, the resulting research record may be messy and disorganized, thereby compromising its future usefulness.
What is needed then is a means for allowing users to maintain a record of research performed using an information retrieval system that avoids the shortcomings of the foregoing conventional approaches.